Elevator



PATENTED FEB. 23, 1904.

.1. RICE.

ELEVATOR.

APPLIOYATION FILED JULY 6, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1" N0 MODEL.

M a W xww ma No. 752,800. PATENTED FEB. 23, 1904.

J. RICE.

ELEVATOR.

\ APPI IOATIQN' FILED JULY 6, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

2 SHEETS-$113111 Z.

h v rap w i l'lllllllll5ll[llllllllllll 2! \i g; ia I l u Patented. February 23, 1904.

, JOSEPH RICE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. I

ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 7 52,800, dated February 23, 1904.

Application filed July 6, 1903. Serial No. 164,267- (No model.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH R1012, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact specification.

My invention relates to that class of elevators in which the car is counterbalanced by a weight on one end of the hoisting-cable Which supports the car and its other end is engaged at an intermediate point by sheaves or drums operated by a motor and whichcause the cable to run by their frictional contact therewith. In this class of elevator construction it is essential that the friction between thesheaves and the cable be equal to the preponderance ofweight of the car, and consequently a multiplicity of turns or wraps of the cable is indispensable; but in practice it is found that these numerous bends occurring in the cable contiguous to each other are very injurious to it and materially shorten its life. In some instances it has been sought to avoid this objection by increasing the diameter of the drums or driving-sheaves; but that encounters the greater objection of being too bulky and requiring increased power by reason of the adverse leverage. In other instances it has been proposed to pass the cable around two sets of sheaves, one of which has its shaft canted or inclined with relation to the other shaft in order that the cable will run straight; but this is also objectionable, because only one set of sheaves can be driven without the employment of costly gearing and driving mechanism, and hence the number of turns on the sheaves must be proportionately multiplied to compensate for the traction or friction lost by allowing the one set to run idle. The primary object of my invention, therefore, is to avoid making a complete turn in the cable at any one point in its length, but to produce half-turns therein at wide distances apart around separate sheaves, to drive by the same motor and simple connections both sets of sheaves-positively, so thatthe number of turns in the cable may be kept down to the minimum, and to so arrange the sheaves that they may all be on parallel axes and all of the cable folds will pass up the same hatchway,

the whole apparatus at the same time being compact, simple, and inexpensive.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts by which the said object and certain other objects hereinafter appearing are attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly sectioned, of my improved ele: vator. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the cable-driving mechanism; and Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section thereof, partly in end elevation, the section being taken on the line 3 3, Fig. 2.

1 represents the car, and 2 the counterweight, which are secured to the ends of a single cable 3. Where the cable passes down to the car it runs over an idle sheave 4 and the top of the elevator shaft or hatch, as usual, and where it. extends down to the counterweight it passes over an idler 5, and at the bottom of the hatch to one side of the guides 6 it passes around two sets of driving-sheaves 7 8, arranged laterally from each other a considerable distance apart on independent shafts 9 10, respectively. Each set of the sheaves 7 8 may be constituted by separate sheaves secured" to their respective shafts; but in practice it is preferable to form each set integrally or as a single drum with a plurality of cablegrooves; Thesesheaves or drums 7 8 may be comparatively small in diameter, and the cable is passed therearound a sufficient number of times for producing the traction necessary I for raising and lowering a car, the number of turns being dependent upon the weight which the car is supposed to carry. Sheaves 7 8 are arranged in the same vertical plane and have their axes parallel, the grooves in one set being diametrically opposed to the corresponding grooves in the other set, and one set is arranged a sufiicient distance from the other set to enable the cable folds to pass from one set to the other without danger of running off. The cable is shown as passing around the outer sides of the sets of sheaves 7 8 three times, and

frornthe top side of the last groove in the set 8 it passes substantially horizontally back again to a point above the first set, 7 where it runs under an idler 11, which is journaled over construction, it'will be seen, results in the arrangement of all of the folds of the cable in substantially a vertical line close to the elevator-guides, so that they may all pass up and down the same hatch. I

The shafts 9 10 of the driving sheaves or drums are each provided at each end with a crank in the'form ofa disk 13 and wrist-pin 14, and these cranks are connected together that is, the cranks of shaft 9 with those of shaft 10by connecting-rods 15, the cranks being set on the quarter, so that if either shaft be driven the other will be also positively driven, as is well known in the construction of locomotives and other arts where this expedient is employed. On the shaft 9 is rigidly secured a gear wheel 16, with which meshes a gear-wheel 17, journaled on a shaft 18, to which is keyed a worm-wheel19, driven by a worm 20, secured to a shaft 21 of an electric motor 22 or any other suitable drivingengine. v I

The shaft 10 is journaled in standards 23, and the shaft 9 is journaled in two standards 2&, which have upward extensions 25 26 respectively carrying a shaft 27, on which idler 1-1 is supported. The standards 24 are formed at their lower ends with a casing 28, in which the gearing is housed and the shaft 18is journaled, and the shaft 21 is journaled in bearings 29, and these bearings 29 support the casing 28 and the superposed parts and, together with the standards23, are rigidly mounted on or formed integrally with a base 30, thus connecting all the parts of the frame togethenin the form of a new integral or substantial structure.

By employing the connecting-rods 15 andthe construction and arrangement which adapts the'rnechanism for this form of connection between the cranks of the two drums it. will be seen that I am enabled to have the drums located a very considerable distance apart, much farther apart,'in fact, than would be feasible should gearing or similar forms of transmission be employed for connecting them together, and by locating theidler or sheave 11 above one of the drums instead of on'the same shaft therewith I avoid two unnecessary and severe. bends in the cable, one

- where the cable would pass downwardly from the top of the drum 8 and the other where it would pass under the sheave 11, and I am also enabled to locate the sheave in the same plane as the last groove in the drum 8, and thereby avoid deflecting the cable sidewise on the last fold, and by situating the sheave 11 close to the drum 7, with its outer side very near a vertical line touching the periphery of said drum, I bring both ends of the cable where they touch the drum? and sheave 11, respectively, close together and substantially vertical.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an elevator, the combination of two driving-drums arranged at a wide distance apart, two cranks connected with each of said drums, connecting-rods connecting the cranks on one drum with the cranks of the other, a motor geared to one of said drums, a sheave journaled above and close to the top of one of said drums, a car, a cable having one end secured to said car and passing upwardly and thence downwardly and under said sheave, then over and around the outer side of the farther one of said drums and thence under and around the opposite side of the other of said drums and from the latter upwardly and finally downwardly, and a counterweight attached to the other end of said cable.

2. In an elevator, the combination of two driving-drums arranged in the same Vertical plane on parallel axes, means for driving one of said drums positively, a pair of cranks connectedwith each of said drums, connectingrods connecting the cranks of one of said drums with those of the other, an idler journaled above one of said drums with its outer side contiguous to. the outer side of that drum, a cable passing downwardly and under said idler and thence horizontally to the top of and around the outer side of the farther one of said drums, thence under and around the other of said drums and upwardly therefrom, the said downward and upward portions of said cable extending lengthwise of each other, a car: attached to-one end of said cable and a counterweight tothe other end.

' JOSEPH RICE.

Witnesses:

F. A. HOPKINS, M. B. ALLSTA-DT. 

